Transport conveyances such as aircraft are used for conveying or transporting freight as well as passengers. One and the same aircraft may, for example, be used during daytime for the transport of passengers while operating at night for transporting freight. Such a system must permit the loading and lashing of freight items or the latching or locking of passenger seats in such a way that a conversion from transporting freight to carrying passengers and vice versa is rapidly possible. The freight loading systems must thus be flexible and the change over from freight transportation to passenger carrying and vice versa must be performable, not only rapidly, but also by a minimum of service personnel.
Moreover, the pieces of freight to be transported may have rather diverse features. On the one hand there are standardized containers and pallets. On the other hand there are nonstandardized loads, for example bags or vehicles lashed to supporting chip boards to be transported. Such freight items are relatively heavy and thus impose high requirements regarding the statics and construction of the loading floor and of the lashing points which must have the strength to safely take-up the loads. Furthermore for special missions special additional loading floor systems may be required for securing for example medical supply units to the freight loading floor. Particularly in emergency situations it is necessary that the different possibilities of use can be realized in an extremely short change over time and by a minimum number of maintenance personnel.
Conventional systems use pallets on which passenger seats are mounted for carrying passengers. Such pallets can be secured to the freight deck. If the aircraft is to be used for the transportation of freight, the pallets are removed, whereby the conventional function units on the freight deck become accessible. Such conventional function units comprise, for example, lashing devices, roller units for rolling freight items into lashing positions, latching elements, and guide rails. Once the pallets with passenger seats have been removed, freight pallets or containers loaded with freight can be secured to the loading floor instead of the seat carrying pallets.
Conventionally it is also possible to alternatively mount passenger seats directly on the freight deck or loading floor. However, for this purpose additional mounting possibilities are required. Conventionally, mounting rails or lashing points or devices are constructed to function as mounting interface locations to which either passenger seats or the mentioned function units can be secured on the freight loading floor. FIG. 1 shows an arrangement of function elements on the freight loading floor. So-called lashing points are provided for lashing of loads to the loading floor by means of a lashing ring. Each lashing point includes at least one lashing ring. Numerous lashing points are distributed on the loading floor in the freight space and mostly at uniform spacings from one another. Each lashing point is generally secured directly to the aircraft frame structure in order to be able to take up the forces and moments that are effective on the lashing point in all directions. In case the lashing points of a freight loading system are intended to be used for the mounting of further components or systems such as passenger seats, it is necessary to replace the lashing devices intended for freight purposes by latching devices constructed for mounting and securing passenger seats. Such replacement operation of lashing devices by latching components is time consuming and may well result in the loss of loose components of the lashing devices.